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Ordinary Time: October 13th

Thursday of the Twenty-Eighth Week of Ordinary Time

MASS READINGS

COLLECT PRAYER

May your grace, O Lord, we pray, at all times go before us and follow after and make us always determined to carry out good works. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

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St. Edward (1003-1066), called the Confessor, was the grandson of St. Edward, king and martyr, and became king of England at the age of forty-seven. As king he was noted for his gentleness, humility, detachment and angelic purity. He preserved perfect chastity in his wedded life. So little was his heart set on riches that he freely dispensed his goods at the palace gate to the sick and poor. His reign was one of almost continuous peace. The people were prosperous and ruined churches were rebuilt. All spoke affectionately of the wise measures of the "good King Edward." According to the 1962 Missal of St. John XXIII the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite, today is his feast.

Also today in Fatima in 1917, the marvelous miracle of the sun took place in the sky before 70,000 witnesses.

St. EdwardEdward, the last king of the Anglo-Saxons, a grandson of the martyr-king Edward, passed his youth in exile with his uncle, a Norman leader. In an environment of sin he preserved innocence of life. Called to the throne of England in 1042, he sought to put into practice the Christian ideals for a ruler, with the help of God's grace. His first efforts were directed toward a renewal of religion in the hearts of his people. Priests were invited into his kingdom, churches were built. Yielding to pressure, he married, but is said to have retained virginity during his whole married life.

His favorite saint was St. John the Evangelist; he would not deny any request asked in his name. One day the Beloved Disciple appeared to him in the form of a beggar and asked alms in the name of the fourth evangelist; as Edward had no ready money, he gave up the ring on his finger. Shortly thereafter St. John returned the ring with the message that his death was near. The king ordered public prayers to be said for himself and died in the Lord on the day foretold, January 5, 1066.

Excerpted from The Church's Year of Grace, Pius Parsch

Patron: Difficult marriages; kings; separated spouses.

Symbols: Elderly king offering a ring or coin to Saint John who is disguised as a beggar; ring in his hand; scepter surmounted by a dove; purse; St. John's Gospel; sealed scroll; crown; ring.

Things to Do:

Find out more about England and Europe during the time of St. Edward's life, particularly the Norman invasion.

Imitating St. Edward, we need to reach out to the needy, both spiritually and physically.

This holy king esteemed purity and innocence. His favorite saint was the virgin-disciple of the Lord. His body remained wholly incorrupt. Say a Hail Mary everyday for the virtue of purity.